Science Report 2015

The Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research have been established to ensure that the academic community work closely with industry to provide the required research advancement, develop innovative technologies and robust solutions, and ultimately ensure the future provision of electricity and energy to the Swiss country and the transition to a competitive carbon-free economy.

The specific targets of the SCCER-Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE) are geoenergy and hydropower, the two sources of band-electricity identified by the Energy Strategy 2015 to provide a substantial electricity contribution to enable the exit from nuclear electricity production, with the target of up to 7% electricity production from geothermal energy and a 10% increase of hydropower production.

The SCCER-SoE completed in 2015 its capacity building. About 240 scientists, engineers, researchers, doctoral students and professors are now associated to SCCER-SoE, working together in inter-disciplinary projects to realize the SCCER-SoE innovation roadmap.

The Annual Conference 2015, held on September 10-11 at the University of Neuchatel, aimed at providing a comprehensive view of the R&D conducted by SCCER-SoE and its associated projects, and to confront the scientific agenda with the needs and views of stakeholders from industry, public institutions, federal offices and policy makers.

120 posters were presented and discussed at the Annual Conference, covering all aspects of the scientific portfolio of SCCER-SoE. These posters are collected on this website and presented according to the tasks to which they are associated.

The Annual Conference shows a vibrant and integrated scientific community, and the scientific level of the presentations proves that we are on the good way to develop and complete our scientific roadmap.

Numerous workshops have been held between partners in the NRP70 projects and the Geothermie2020 consortium

Meetings of Task 1.1 members have been held with those of the closely associated Tasks 1.2 and 1.4

A conference session entitled "Geothermal Energy, CO2 sequestration and shale gas" has been convened by SCCER-SoE members at the upcoming 13th Swiss Geoscience Meeting in Basel and it has attracted 38 scientific presentations.

Highlights 2015

NRP70-Swisstopo-BFE-funded research drillhole on Grimsel Pass had been cored to 250 m depth to permit characterization of a geothermally active fault system in crystalline rocks (Belgrano et al. and Egli et al.). The drillhole is now being used to test geophysical exploration techniques.

NRP70-funded research has shown that matrix porosities and permeabilities of the regional Muschelkalk aquifer depend strongly on burial depth (Aschwanden et al.)

Geothermie2020/SCCER-SoE research has shown that reef carbonates in the Malm aquifer within the greater Geneva Basin have promisingly high porosities and permeabilities (Clerc et al).

The understanding of the long-term evolution and efficiency of reservoirs during operation is heavily underdeveloped due to a lack of projects that generated practical experience (e.g., how efficiently and sustainably can heat be produced from fractured reservoirs). Task 1.2 predicts and quantifies the long-term behaviour of deep geothermal and CO2 reservoirs

Reservoir exploration and characterization requires interplay between field-based measurements and interpretation of results by numerical methods. Task 1.2, in close collaboration with Task 1.3 (see also poster there), works towards integration of these two approaches. This includes experimental work on different scales.

A number of partners is involved in international collaborations with “established” geothermal countries (US, Iceland, New Zealand) to test and optimize methods and to gain experience in applying them to actual, operating systems.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

Two workshops in 2015 (May 12: Task 1.2 workshop at EPFL; May 4: Joint workshop of Tasks 1.2 and 4.3 at USI)

First numerical simulations of supercritical geothermal reservoirs, published in Nature Communications (Sam Scott et al., ETHZ; open access: doi:10.1038/ncomms8837); this is an outcome of the international collaboration with Iceland within the COTHERM project (SNF Sinergia) that acts under the umbrellas of IPGT (International Partnership for Geothermal Technology)

Victor Vilarrasa (EPFL) was awarded the Alfons Bayó Award to Young Researchers by the International Association of Hydrogeologists – Spanish Group

Experiments in a deep underground laboratory: In order to better understand the physical processes associated with geothermal reservoir creation appropriate experiments will be devised in the "Deep Underground Geothermal (DUG)" laboratory near Grimsel Pass (Grimsel Test Site). The first comprehensive experiment is called "Insitu Stimulation and Circulation (ISC)". The primary goal is to improve our understanding of geomechanical processes underpinning permeability creation during hydraulic stimulation and related induced seismicity as well as to evaluate the efficiency of the generated underground heat exchanger.

Geo-Energie Suisse AG received the approval for its deep geothermal energy project in Haute-Sorne (Canton of Jura). Drilling will start in late 2017 and the stimulation phase to create a deep reservoir is expected in 2018. Following its roadmap, the SCCER-SoE will be closely associated to the Haute-Sorne project and will support it with simulations, modelling expertise, stress analyses, and methodologies validated in the deep underground lab at the Grimsel Test Site.

Revisit the roadmap for CO2 geological sequestration in 2015 and design a first Swiss pilot project for geological sequestration of CO2.

Interaction between the institutes

The core team of the ISC experiment is composed by six senior researchers from different disciplines, sitting together in the same room and supported by a group of professors and PhD students from different institutes.

Highlights

Activities within the experiment “in-situ stimulation and circulation” at Grimsel test site are running ahead of schedule. The first holes are drilled and the first small stimulation experiment has been performed. The activities are in schedule leading to the stimulation test in spring next year; this will be the largest and best-monitored fault stimulation experiment carried out worldwide to date.

Activities have been started to define a common pilot and demonstration experiment for the carbon sequestration in the underground.

Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo), University of Bern, University of Geneva

Task Objectives

A wide variety of 3D subsurface data must be compiled to quantify the potential for geothermal energy production and CO2 storage within Switzerland, and to guide exploration and efficient exploitation. Moreover, the subsurface data need to be linked to diverse 2D surface information on groundwater protection, land use, conflicting resources, etc., to facilitate planning, licensing and monitoring. The objective of this task is to incorporate new subsurface data produced in WP1 into a digital archive in a sustainable form that is permanently accessible to institutions and industry, and that allows for modern 3D imaging and data-mining.

During the 2013-2016 project period the Swiss Geological Survey of swisstopo will continue building its Geological Information and Production System (GIPS). This will involve: developing recommendations and standards for structuring, storing and exchanging borehole data and seismic lines; digitizing existing analog maps, sections and other analog information; feeding new subsurface data from WP1 into geospatial databases; reinterpreting existing seismic lines to expand resolution of the Swiss Geophysical Atlas; constructing web-services that allow full interoperability of 3D geological information as well as visualization of 2D data and 3D models via web portal; integrating geological information of various kinds into the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI); expanding computer storage capacity at swisstopo.

In 2015, a 1st generation 3D model (1:200’000) of the Swiss Molasse Basin based on the Seismic Atlas of the Swiss Molasse Basin (Sommaruga et al 2012) was completed. A higher resolution model (1:50’000), with increased detail in the shallow subsurface, improved fault modelling, additional 2D seismic interpretations and updated time-to-depth conversion will be finalized in 2016.

A professionally managed, web-based platform for the sustainable storage and exchange of geological data and models among SCCER partners, industry and institutions will be delivered, and the work will be integrated with the InterReg project GeoMol, presently conducted by swisstopo in collaboration with the geological surveys in neighboring countries.

Swiss National Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) at ETH Zurich, Chair of Hydrology and Water Resources Management (HWRM) at ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) at ETH Zurich, Laboratory of Hydraulic Constructions (LCH) at EPF Lausanne, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) at EPF Lausanne

To significantly reduce uncertainties of the “natural boundary conditions” and, by that, provide a more secure basis to hydropower industry to decide on long-term investments.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

Semi-annual meetings: one in January and one in August 2015, at ETH Zürich

Update of long-term perspectives for water resources / sediment supply (Synthesis report): planned for 2017 / 2018 (together with the next generation of Swiss climate change scenarios); based on specific products / models from all partners / sub-projects.

Specific input to the integrative model of task 2.5: provided by all partners / sub-projects.

Highlights 2015

New sediment transport measurement system: Sediment supply to hydropower intakes and reservoirs is a serious problem, and good data about it is rare. In March 2015, WSL installed a new measurement system in the Albula river at Tiefencastel. It has been put into operation and will be used for the sediment management of the hydropower dam Solis.

New airborne radar system for glacier mapping: In April 2015, a new and improved helicopter ice penetrating radar system was successfully tested by VAW-ETHZ to determine the thickness of glacier ice. The overall goal of the glacier inventory project is to create a Swiss wide map of the relief of the Alps without glaciers respectively of glacier thicknesses.

Swiss National Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Research Center for Sustainable Energy and Water Supply (FoNEW) at the University of Basel, Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE) at the University of Geneva, University of Applied Sciences (HTW Chur), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO)

Task Objectives

Within the Energy Strategy 2050 hydropower is envisioned to increase production (which includes the need for retrofitting older hydropower plants), is supposed to provide the needed flexibility to accommodate large shares of renewable energy generation, and plays an important role in regional economies and developments (especially in mountain cantons). Understanding the impact of current and future market and policy conditions will be crucial for the development of the Swiss hydro system.

The socio-economic boundary conditions and their impact on the Swiss hydro system will be analyzed in cooperation with associated research partners from the SCCER CREST and the SCCER-FURIES developing evaluations of the Swiss transmission system. They will provide assessments of the future development of liberalized electricity markets with a high share of intermittent generation based on bottom-up market models.

The ongoing research projects have been presented as posters during the Annual Conference, as per the list hereafter. The link with the 10-years Hydropower roadmap is presented below in Figure 1 (see numbering after the title).

investigating the infrastructural adaptation of existing hydropower systems to cope with more flexible operation and with increased erosion and sediment transport and to maintain the required level of safety under harsher operational conditions or under storage increase

exploring the potential of lakes that can form following the retreat of glaciers

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

The three research institutes involved in this task jointly participate in the CTI research proposal STODEV (see details below).

The ETHZ-VAW organized the first-ever Workshop on Sediment By-pass Tunnels, an original solution for sediment management on dam reservoirs, with the collaboration of EPFL-LCH in the international scientific and review committee.

Research activities lead by the three partners jointly or independently are, almost inherently, multidisciplinary and in connection with other SCCER-SoE tasks given the specific content of this task 2.3 on infrastructure, which make use of given resources (task 2.1), in a given economical context (task 2.2), within environmental restrictions (task 2.4) for operation (task 2.5) with given equipment solutions (task 3.2).

Highlights 2015

A research funding proposal has been submitted to the CTI entitled “STODEV - Sustainable hydropower storage development in a changing environment: innovation as means to secure and expand operation and competitiveness of KWO‘s complex system.” comprising research from six institutions (EPFL, ETHZ, HES-SO, EAWAG, WSL and HSLU) together with Kraftwerke Oberhasli.

A cycle of conferences is being held at EPFL on hydropower related issues, consisting of twelve presentations in total, at a monthly frequency, with an average attendance of 50 participants per event, gathering private sector, public authorities and academia.

A 3-day workshop was organized at EPFL on September 9-11, in collaboration with the Swiss Committee on Dams (CSB / STK), entitled 13th ICOLD Benchmark Workshop on the Numerical Analysis of Dams (http://icold2015bmw.epfl.ch/). The main focus was on dam safety against earthquakes considering recent directives. Over eighty participants follow two full days of sessions and one day field trip to two landmark dams which have recently undergone heightening or strengthening.

In view of climate change and energy market dynamics, this task addresses the response of aquatic ecosystems to future streamflow alterations resulting from

modified hydropower operating conditions and improved flexibility

the increasing development of small hydropower plants (SHPPs), by means of which the Energy Strategy 2050 aims at an additional power generation of 1 to 2 TWh·yr-1.

A better understanding of the ecological effects following operational and infrastructural measures will allow to develop improved environmental impact strategies for a given power production. In particular, this will be achieved by

optimizing the spatial distribution of power production in a network of HPPs and SHPPs at the catchment scale

The five research institutes involved in this project jointly developed the NRP70 project proposal HydroEnv (Gabbud et al.).

Highlights 2015

It has been theoretically shown that the current minimum environmental flow regulations are not optimal for both hydropower production and the environment at the same time (Tron et al.).

A new research project has been initiated to further evaluate possibilities to optimize environmental flow releases (Gabbud et al.).

A literature review has shown that the environmental impacts of small hydropower plants (SHPs) are poorly known, especially the effects of multiple SHPs on ecological and evolutionary processes at the network scale, and that there is a need to develop new management tools to consider these network-scale impacts (Lange et al.).

Preliminary simulations indicate that the optimal positioning of SHPs in a river network may be different if the network perspective is considered in the assessment (Meier et al.).

Preliminary results from a reach-scale field study indicate that fish are affected by SHP through changes in their respective food resources (Lange et al.).

A new project has been started, which aims at evaluating the status of floodplains affected by hydropower operations and the development of suitable management actions and restoration measures at the floodplain scale (Schleiss et al.).

The purpose of Task 2.5 is to develop an advanced modelling framework for the integrated and continuous simulation of hydrological regimes and the operation of hydropower systems. The model allows accounting for climate change scenarios, the corresponding altered streamflow regimes, different energy market conditions (e.g., energy demand and price, increased production by solar and wind powerplants), as well as new boundary conditions for operation (e.g., aquatic ecosystem conservation) and technical solutions (e.g., dam crest heightening or installation of more flexible machines). The modelling framework allows a quantitative assessment of current and future hydropower reservoir operation strategies in terms of energy production and revenue, integration with other power sources, and effects on natural water bodies and ecosystems. The specific objectives are:

assess impacts of climate change on available water resources at existing and planned HP systems, on their extremes (low and high flows), on floods and sediment transport and, more in general, on any element of change that can affect the hydropower production potential;

assess the energy production increase achievable by current reservoir operating strategies or ad hoc designed to account for technical improvements and/or adaptations of the hydropower systems to future hydro-climatic and socio-economic forcing;

analyse the effects of increasingly volatile demand and market conditions (as induced, for instance, by production from other renewable energies) on the production potential and to design more flexible and robust hydropower system operation strategies.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

Several collaboration has been established with other research partners within the context of the SCCER and other related projects. This represents the first steps towards the integration of the results achieved by different WP2 tasks and activities into a common modelling framework. A strong connection has been built with some industrial partners thanks to periodical meetings, which have the scope of updating the stakeholders of the work results and to include their feedbacks into the research activities, thus collaborating together to shared solutions in view of the energy strategy 2050.

In particular, we are working in collaboration with Task 2.1 to extend our research spatially distributed hydrological model to include a more detailed representation of the glacierised areas. Moreover, we are going to use the high-resolution climate change scenarios developed in Task 2.1 to simulate the effect on hydrological regimes and hydropower system operation across the investigated river basins. The main partners of these activities are: ETH Zurich (Hydrology and Water Resources Management), ETH Zurich (Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology), Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM), and Kraftwerke Mattmark AG / Axpo Power AG.

Further we are working in collaboration with Task 2.2 to assess the impact of different market scenarios on future hydropower operation. We are combining multi-objective optimization techniques and a Swiss electricity market model to design different reservoir operating policies to assess which reservoir operating strategies can lead to maximisation of production to support the 2050 energy strategy. The main partners of these activities are: ETH Zurich (Hydrology and Water Resources Management), Uni Basel (Research Center for Sustainable Energy and Water Management), and Kraftwerke Mattmark AG / Axpo Power AG.

We have established a collaboration with OFIMA to assess future operating strategies also including the effect of different reservoir operating policies on the ecology of downstream river corridors. This activity links to Task 2.4 and to the NRP 70 funded project “HydroEnv”, the purpose of which is to identify key environmental indicators and environmental flow policies to be included in the integrated model as performance metrics to evaluate future hydropower system operation from the ecological point of view.

Finally, we plan to partner with Swiss National Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) to develop ensemble streamflow forecasts and explore by means of the integrated model how multi-model forecast uncertainty affects streamflow real-time predictions and their use in hydropower reservoir operation.

Highlights 2015

Several master theses have been conducted to test and develop the modelling framework and produce some preliminary results on two study sites. The students involved come from ETH Zurich as well as from other European universities.

The activities on Task 2.5 were presented in two international conferences thanks to two oral contributions:

Operation of hydropower generation systems in the Alps under future climate and socio-economic drivers. European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015 - Vienna (Austria)

The role of hydropower operation to contribute to the future electricity supply of Switzerland: aim and experience of the Swiss Competence Center on Energy Research - Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE). EWRI (World Environmental and Water Resources Congress) - Austin, Texas (U.S.A.)

In the actual phase from 2014-2016, SCCER-SoE has identified a number of technologies for early development, some for GeoEnergies (Task 3.1) and some for HydroPower (Task 3.2). Each selected technology development will be conducted by one or more SCCER-SoE partner in collaboration, where appropriate, with one or more industry partners. Such collaborations will be formalized and supported with dedicated KTI applications.

Some of these technologies are already under development, and the SCCER-SoE will allow to focus and speed development, others are innovative and need a full feasibility analysis.

Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) at ETHZ, Institute for Building Materials (IfB) at ETHZ, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines (LMH) at EPFL

Analytical solution of the power production of a deep coaxial heat exchangerR. Schnellman, P. Hardegger, H.R. Schneider

Task Objectives

Five research groups are active in solving important technological problems in the application of geothermal energy. Without these technologies geothermal energy would not become economically competitive.

Innovative drilling technologies: highly important to reduce the so far excessively high costs for drilling the deep wells

Cementitious grouts for bore holes in geothermal wells: concrete has to be pumped for up to 5 km down and should remain fluid, so cement hydration must be delayed

Sensors for harsh environments: the main risk is that earth-quakes will be initiated, the sensors are very sensitive and monitor seismic activities during the drilling process.

Long term durable materials for geothermal plants: long term operation of geothermal plants require durable materials without excessively high costs.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

As the task group works on very different objectives, the research institutes exchange results in meetings at least two times a year. They have bilateral collaborations.

Highlights 2015

A new sensor concept for seismometers based on magnetic suspension of an inertial spherical mass is developed and validated; it is now on the prototype level. New is that the force feedback loops of the system are implemented digitally (Moerschell).

Flame jet drilling is possible in lab-scale experiment. By increasing the compressing force on the rock sample, drilling is significantly improved.

Numerical simulations can improve the understanding of the hydrothermal spallation drilling, provide more details than experiments (such as the temperature distribution in the whole field, velocity distribution, and also the effect of different structures), which will be helpful for designing and optimizing of the process.

Combining conventional drilling technology with thermal spallation (flame jet drilling) could be a promising approach as about 3 – 4 times higher drilling velocities could be obtained (von Rohr).

Hydration behavior of cements at high temperatures, especially the delay of initiation, could be rationalized by a physico-chemical model and experiments (Flatt).

An high-temperature / high-pressure autoclave to study durability of metallic and inorganic materials in the geothermal brines is in the planning stage (Elsener)

The SCCER-SoE considers a complete picture of Switzerland’s electricity supply within the context of three integrative activities.

The “Risk Team” (Task 4.1) assigns high priority to the issues of risk, safety, and social acceptability. For instance, they aim to minimize the risk from induced earthquakes in order to ensure that threshold values are not exceeded and damage is avoided.

In the “Global Observatory” (Task 4.2), all relevant electricity production technologies are evaluated and compared as regards their potential, cost, and environmental impact. Energy-economy models are also used to analyze electricity scenarios both on a national and global level.

The “Center for Modeling and Simulation” (Task 4.3) creates new methods and user-friendly software for the virtual development, testing, and optimization of Swiss hydropower and geothermal plants.

The exploitation of underground energy resources as well as the use and expansion of hydropower, are, like all energy technologies, not risk free. To address this risk, we develop a holistic concept of risk governance and community resilience, advocating a broad picture of risk: not only does it include ‘risk management’ and ‘risk analysis’, it also looks at how risk-related decision-making unfolds when a range of actors is involved. This requires coordination and possibly reconciliation between a profusion of roles, perspectives, goals and activities. Developments include: a rigorous common methodology and a consistent modelling approach to hazard, vulnerability, risk, resilience and societal acceptance assessment of energy technologies; a stress test framework and apply it to assess the vulnerability and resilience of individual critical energy infrastructures, as well as to address the first level of interdependencies among these, from local and regional perspectives; standardized protocols, operational guidelines and software for monitoring strategies, for real-time hazard and risk assessment during all project phases, and for mitigation and related communication strategies.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

Risk Governance by its very nature is a truly interdisciplinary and integrative activity, with interfaces to science, industry, regulators, and the public / media. The composition of the team reflects these needs, and also requires frequent exchange between the partners as well as to other SCCER-SoE team and beyond. The full group of partners have met every six months for one to two days for exchange, planning, and networking. In addition, bi-lateral and small group meetings are taking place on an almost daily basis, enabled also by the fact that the core team at ETH is located in a central office, together with the SCCER-SoE exploration and modelling teams. We are also meeting on a regular basis with cantonal and industry representatives in order to discuss the application of our R&D for ongoing and future projects.

Highlights 2015

A risk governance workflow for induced seismicity risk has been developed and is being implemented.

An international workshop on induced seismicity took place in Davos in March 2015, with more than 150 participants (http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/research/groups/schatzalp/).

The team contributed substantially to the TA-Swiss study on deep geothermal energy.

The team is contributing actively to the permitting process for future geothermal plants in Switzerland by advising industry and cantonal authorities.

The Global Observatory provides a comprehensive analytical framework for technology characterization and trend identification that can be applied in a consistent manner across a broad portfolio of current and future technologies. In addition to geo-energies and hydropower, a variety of technologies are considered, including new renewables (e.g. solar photovoltaic, solar-thermal, wind onshore and offshore, biomass, geothermal, wave and tidal), fossil energy carriers (with and without CCS), nuclear energy and consideration of co-generation. Its two main objectives are the following:

- Characterization and sustainability assessment of current and future technologies

- Evaluation of existing trends, projections, and scenarios

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

The Global Observatory has established links with the various work packages within the SCCCER-SoE to make use of the available expertise in this SCCER. In addition, there are collaborations with several other SCCERs, namely Biosweet (for biomass), Storage, Mobility and Furies. Finally, the involvement of PSI’s Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis in many different projects ensures that results relevant for the Global Observatory can be easily incorporated.

Highlights 2015

The Global Observatory focuses on Switzerland, but also considers European and global scales.

The key challenge is to evaluate the current status and innovation potential of emerging and future highly advanced technologies with regard to their costs, environmental and social performance aspects, resource potentials, and possible future deployment scenarios using energy economic modelling.

The developed framework will allow the establishment of a trend-based and partially quantitative comparative perspective on the prospective developments of electricity technologies.

Furthermore, a common format of a status report will be established that is published in regular intervals.

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), Goethe Center for Scientific Computing (G-CSC) of the Goethe University Frankfurt, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Siegen, University of Leeds, RWTH Aachen University

The modeling facility in Task 4.3 provides state of the art knowledge and techniques from numerical analysis, computational science, HPC, and scientific software engineering. In cooperation with partners from other tasks, the modeling facility aims at improving existing or providing new simulation tools for Hydro- and Geo-Science, which combine robustness and efficiency with HPC capabilities.

Interaction Between the Partners – Synthesis

Task 4.3 is interacting with the tasks of work package 1 and 3. Interaction in the different projects is mostly connected to questions in numeric / scientific computing or on the knowledge exchange between Geo- / Hydro-Science and the modeling facility.

Highlights 2015

PhD thesis of J. Steiner on Fluid-Structure Interaction "Coupling Different Discretizations for Fluid Structure Interaction in a Monolithic Approach"

Development of first prototypes of software libraries (PASSO and moonolith) for the numerical simulation of coupled multiphysixs problems